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Letters May 5, 2011

To the Top of the Hill MarketCafe for the delicious food. To the Chestnut Hill Business Association for the use of the projector so we could all see Jane Golden’s mural pictures. And of course to our entire staff and Noreen Spota for so efficiently organizing everything.

Bob Rossman V. P. for operations

Fresh Market: a threat to Avenue food business?

I’m a veteran of the food industry and currently own my own beverage company. Having lived in Chestnut Hill for the past 15 years, I’ve seen a lot of positive change in our community.

I’ve traveled the world and our country extensively over the years and wake up every day thanking my lucky stars that I live in one of the best neighborhoods in America! That being said, I sense danger afoot with the impending construction of the new Fresh Market store.

My experience in the food industry has prompted me to register my opinion and I am very much against it! As I look at the landscape of food retailers in our area, I see a glut. We now have the Co-Op for groceries, meats, veggies and prepared food, the Top of the Hill Market for seafood, meat and farm fresh veggies, the Farmers Market for fresh, specialty and prepared foods, the CH Cheese Shop for cheese, specialty meats and foods, Baker Street and Metropolitan for bread and CVS and the Chestnut Hill Pharmacy for sundries, etc., and Brewer’s Outlet for beer.

And that’s just for starters, and that list does not include the three local Whole Foods, the Flourtown Farmer’s Market, Pathmark, Acme and Genuardi’s!What will the Fresh Market bring to our community? In my opinion, it will only hurt the current retailers and it could be the death knell for our Farmer’s Market, which I’d hate to see go away.

Knowing what I know about the Fresh Market, it does quite well in the Southeast, but it has struggled in our region. I like the idea of apartments being added to our community because that will only help our Avenue’s current retailers, but a new, large-scale, corporate market is redundant and it’s injurious to our village’s personality.

Most importantly, this new retail addition can hurt our cherished small retailers. I hear too many grumbles about the vacant stores on our Avenue and yet we are prepared to welcome a “category killer!” This store is not in the best interest of Chestnut Hill. I like living like a European, and that is what makes our village so appealing – so let’s not mess this up, huh?!

Brian Powell Chestnut Hill

Adrift over bin Laden killing

Cheering the death, let alone the killing of any mother’s son reflects the mindset of those who perpetrate – and often fall victim to – the daily carnage on the streets of Philadelphia.

Few deserved more and few we needed more to stand before an international court of justice to demonstrate our democratic ideals than Osama bin Laden. We, as a society, are adrift at sea. Save Muammar Gaddafi.

Brian Rudnick Chestnut Hill

‘Book Lady’ down, but she’s not out

I had the pleasure of meeting and writing about Mildred Coates, a.k.a. “The Book Lady,” for last week’s issue of the Local (“’Bookie’ will be at Hill Garden Festival”). At 84 years of age, Mildred would hop on a bus or train to find books for readers in her informal group known as FLOB (For the Love of Books).

Equally refreshing was the fact that this woman, who grew up with 11 siblings during the Depression, did not charge anything for the books.

I called Mildred recently only to find that she had fallen on an uneven sidewalk on Germantown Avenue (you guessed it) while looking for books and broke her knee cap. A couple had seen her go down and drove her to Chestnut Hill Hospital’s Emergency Room. As a result, she was not able to make it to the Festival on Sunday.

I spoke with Mildred, and, always the optimist, she figured she could catch up on some of her reading during her six-week recovery period. Mildred has been so kind and generous to so many people in this area. If you would like to send a card to Mildred, please send it in care of me at the Local or drop it off at the Local, and I will deliver it to her.

Barbara Sherf Flourtown

Thank you to our loyal customers!

For the past five years, I’ve had the pleasure of managing the Sanctuary Yoga Boutique. I’ve met many interesting people, young and not-so-young, many of whom came in, not for a specific item we sold, but for ideas and conversation.

Some of my Reiki students and private clients, and now friends, entered my life by coming through the Life-Green Door. Inevitably, I’ve learned just as much from you as I was able to transmit, whether on the subjects of metaphysics, good books, Reiki energy healing, ancient civilizations, philosophy, art, and much more.

For the past two weeks, as soon as our “Going Out Of Business” sign went up, I have been beautifully deluged with the well-wishing of many of you, asking where I could be found on the Hill after May 15. And so, although I don’t know the ultimate answer to that question, I’d like to let you in on some of my plans.

Recently I’ve had several hospital/hospice organizations ask me to come and speak to their nursing staff about Reiki healing, which has entered over 1,000 hospitals nationwide, coast to coast. I plan to expand my teaching schedule in the near future, and want to reach as many caregivers, professional or ‘merely’ family members, as possible. I’ve also spoken to various shopkeepers about working part-time on the Hill, and hope to be seeing you all somewhere soon.

In the meantime, as a measure of my pleasure in getting to know you, and gratitude for your kind concerns about my working future, I’d like to offer a baker’s dozen of you an hour of my professional time, as a gift: whether it be stress management hypnosis, Reiki healing, or any of my other skills, it’s a gift from me to you.

You can all reach me at angelareiki@verizon.net to plan our time together. This isn’t goodbye, but a turning of the page.